are you still a rose without your thorns?
by The Crownless Queen
Summary: The man falls, and Regulus' eyes shine an inhuman red.


Quidditch League Round 8 - Arrows, CHASER 2: K-drama - Are You Human Too? Theme - finding out someone was not the same species(you know what I mean) as you, (word) forgive, (dialogue) "I've waited this long, yet suddenly now I'm impatient.", (phrase) on his/her knees.

Also for Hogwarts' Writing Club: Disney Challenge: C5 - Kaa - Write about someone who shouldn't be trusted, Dark Lady's Diabolical Lair: 19 - Write about a horrific discovery, Count Your Buttons: AU2 - Vampire!AU, D1: "You heard that, right?", Lyric Alley 18: Call it a dark night of the soul, Ami's Audio Admirations 8: Black Feathers — Write about escaping a monster (human or otherwise), Lo's Lowdown C2: Katara - write about a woman who can fight, Bex's Bazaar: 10 - Danny, The Champion of the World - Write about being scared of something, but doing it anyway, Film Festival: 18 - Plot point: Unexpected news, 1 - Genre: Friendship - Write about a group of friends.

Also for August Auction: Character: Regulus, Seasonal Challenges: Days of the Year: September 16 2018 - Collect Rocks Day: Write about someone with an unusual hobby, Flowers: Hydrangea - (phrase) 'Old Money'.

 _Word count:_ 2981

* * *

 _ **are you still a rose without your thorns?**_

They meet at a coffee shop. It's a little bit cliché, but at least Regulus doesn't spill his hot drink all over her.

Rather, they end up waiting in line together and striking a conversation about obscure European literature and mythology. Once their drinks are there, they sit at the same table and keep talking.

Lily's something of an expert, though she mentions a personal interest rather than the 'I'm a Hunter and I kill supernatural creatures for a not-living', because that tends to turn people off.

It's not even a lie, after all. Her interest is very, very personal.

Regulus actually is studying myths and legends, though. "It's more of a hobby than anything else, really," he tells her with an odd little smile, "but it keeps me busy until my father deems me worthy of taking over the family business."

Lily can hear the quotes over 'family business', and it makes her laugh.

Regulus only sips at his drink, satisfied, and just like that, they have a standing agreement to meet there when they can.

Two weeks later, that agreement turns into actual dating.

.

Lily never meets his family, and she doesn't have one to introduce him to.

She had had one, once. Two parents and a sister. Now, she has a grave she visits every first Sunday, a sister she hasn't spoken in half a decade, and a vendetta against the things that go bump into the night and stole her family from her.

(Sometimes, when she closes her eyes, she can still see the blood.)

"I'm sorry," Regulus tells her when she mentions it, though her story is modified into 'car accident' rather than 'vampire rampage'.

"It was a long time ago. I'm fine, now," Lily lies.

Regulus doesn't call her out on it, but the way he spends the rest of their date trying to distract her tells her more than enough.

Of course, she thinks as they contemplate which supposedly haunted place to visit next, she could always introduce him to her friends. James, Sirius and Remus are as good as her family these days — but introducing them would mean explaining how they know each other, and that's a story Lily isn't quite sure makes sense without mentioning the supernatural.

Besides, Regulus is clever. He has the sharpest wit of anyone she knows, but he's also kind. He's rarely ever nice, and Lily gets the feeling he would sneer at her if she ever were to suggest he was, but he's _kind_.

In her world, that's something so rare she can't help but hang onto it, even if she's aware that they can't stay in this happy, private bubble forever. One day, they'll have to face the real world.

In the meantime, though, Lily is happy and in love, and it feels _amazing_.

Which is of course when things go wrong.

.

"You heard that, right?" Lily tenses as she asks, stopping in her tracks and eyeing the darkness behind them suspiciously.

It's late enough that the streets have been mostly empty for quite some time, and Regulus, who has these ridiculous ideas about being a gentleman, is walking her home.

He hums questioningly but he stops too, and he arches an eyebrow at her. "Heard what?"

Lily shakes her head, torn. "I don't know," she starts. "It must have been nothing," she means to continue, but something slashes through the air and Lily tackles Regulus out of the way of the invisible attack with a yell, and she doesn't get the chance to finish her earlier thought.

She only has a knife on her, tucked against her ankle. It's silver, though, and blessed three-fold. There are very few things that that knife cannot kill, and Lily is willing to bet that their attacker, whoever they are, isn't one of those things.

Beside her, Regulus hisses a, "What?" as she kneels up, and Lily shoots him an apologetic look. "I'll explain later," she promises, and dashes forward toward her assailant with a burst of speed.

Hopefully, Regulus will forgive her for the lies.

"Who sent you?" she shouts at their attacker — a man, she can see now, though anything else is masked by dark, heavy clothing.

The man only laughs, a hissing sound without word, as he dances away from her blade.

He doesn't seem to be armed, but Lily remembers that first deadly slash of air — it sliced through the _ground_ — and she stays vigilant.

It's hard, fighting like this with only a knife. She usually has more weapons, is better prepared than this. Here, she doesn't even know what she's dealing with, and Regulus is there.

The man she fell for is there and he could die before her eyes if she fails, which means that she _cannot fail_.

But he's stronger than her, faster than her — she has to be quick, or he'll outlast her easily. So she faints, and the man goes in. He scores a punch against her stomach that steals her breath, but Lily has been expecting that. Before he can follow through, she swipes her knife at him, and grins when it _finally_ hits flesh.

The man falls, barely avoiding Lily's following strike. He's on his knees now, his arm bleeding heavily, but Lily doesn't count him as out. She's raising her arm to cut his throat — a quick, if messy death — when Regulus strikes.

Lily can only watch, stunned, as _the man she loves_ , the man who is _supposed to be an innocent, ignorant civilian_ kicks the man trying to kill them in the chest.

The man's ribs cave in with a terrible crunching noise, his enhanced reflexes useless to save him now. He falls sideways with a strangled gasp, blood bubbling at his lips as he desperately tries to breathe.

"Regulus, wh — what?"

But the clouds part in the sky and the moon that suddenly shines upon the street makes Regulus' grey eyes shine blood red, and Lily's heart stills in her chest as she understands.

The step back is involuntary, as is the way she raises her knife up again, this time pointed at somebody she never thought she'd have to face like this, but she can't bring herself to regret them.

Regulus' face falls and he steps back too, away from the cooling body. He raises his hands defensively, and says, "Lily, I'm…"

This is the voice he had used to tell her he loves her not half an hour ago, but it sounds so different, so wrong now that she knows.

Regulus is a monster, something she's taught herself to hate, and she can't be here.

She can't stay, because she doesn't know what she'll do if she does.

.

The knocking on her door wakes her up. She debates ignoring it for a long time, but eventually, she recognizes James' voice in between the pounding, and she gets up.

She knows James to well to hope he'll leave well enough alone if she doesn't answer. In fact, he's more likely to break in than to leave.

" _What?!"_ She spits at his face as she swings the door open.

James' face as he sees her would be comical if Lily wasn't still feeling so terrible as a result of the combination of alcohol and crying that has been her week.

And it's not like she can blame him. She caught sight of herself while coming to answer the door, and she's a mess.

She _feels_ like a mess, like someone dug into her chest and ripped out her heart, but it's easier to ignore that with someone there.

"You're not dead," James blurts out, and Lily isn't sure if he sounds surprised or not.

She frowns. "Should I be?"

"Well, you didn't come last night, and nobody's heard from you in like, a week. I was worried — we all were."

Lily feels a twinge of guilt. "Well, I'm fine. Alive, anyway." She corrects herself quickly, because it's quite obvious she's not _fine_.

"Riiight." James trails off, sheepishly hopping from one foot to the other. He smiles at her sunnily. "Well, in that case, you won't have any trouble coming back to the Shack with me, right?"

Lily entertains the idea of saying _no_ , of shutting the door in James' face and going back to bed, but eventually, she groans and nods.

"Give me an hour."

She pulls the door open, gesturing James in. "Make yourself at home."

.

The Shack isn't as much an actual shack as it is an old apartment they refurbished to old their hunting equipment and 'center of operation', as Sirius would say, but Lily still finds it aptly named.

Remus takes one look at her face as he exits the kitchen and hisses sympathetically. "Bad break-up, huh? We've all been there," he says.

Sirius, of course, takes offense. "Excuse you, _I_ haven't."

James and Remus snort in unison, putting the first smile on Lily's face in what feels like forever.

"Right," Remus continues, facing Sirius with an eyebrow arched, "because you didn't drown your sorrows in red wine after _Marlene_ dumped your sorry ass."

"Or after you had a one-night stand with _Benjy_ ," James adds. "Or when —"

"No need to drag all the sordid details of my love life out in the open," Sirius interrupts hastily, a pained grin on his face. "I'm sure Lily's not interested in them, right, Lily?"

Lily lets herself smirk. "Oh, I don't know… This is the first I'm hearing of this _Benjy_ …" She wiggles her eyebrow a little, and is rewarded with the sight of Remus hiding a smile in his cup of tea.

"James, James, help me." Sirius shoots a pleading look at James, who just stares back dubiously.

"You're on your own there, buddy."

" _Betrayed!_ " Sirius exclaims, dramatically clutching at his heart as he collapses on the chair next to Remus'. "I've been betrayed! I thought you loved me!"

"There, there," Remus says, patting Sirius' shoulder. the look he sends Lily says very clearly, _My point exactly_ , and she can't help but laugh.

The boys, she notes, look very smug.

"Feeling better?" James asks her a little later.

They're all sat around the table now, and Lily is playing with the teacup Remus pushed toward her earlier. It's jasmine — her favorite — but it's sadly too hot to drink still, so she just inhales the scent for now.

It allows her a few moments to mule over James' question. "A little. It's just… We got attacked on the way back from dinner," she says, and the confession is a weight off her chest. "Some kind of witch, I think," she answers James' unasked question.

"I see," James says, and the worst part is, he probably thinks he does. After all, for all that being a Hunter is a pretty rare calling, it is not unheard of — everyone knows there are monsters in the world.

It's just that most people never expect said monsters to go after _them_.

James is probably thinking Regulus panicked and run, and the thought makes bile rise up her throat. In her mind's eye, she can still see that kick, the way the guy's chest had just… crumbled up inwards.

She can still hear that awful crunch.

It's hypocritical of her, when she had been about to kill him anyway, but she can't help it. Regulus' strength hadn't been human, then.

"No, you don't," she says before she can help herself. "You don't see." Her hands shake as she raises her cup to her lips, and the tea burns her tongue as she swallows it. "Regulus didn't — I wasn't…"

"Did you say _Regulus_?"

When Lily turns to him, Sirius has turned white.

"Yes," she replies. "That's his name."

"Dark hair, stupid haircut, silvery grey eyes? About half a head shorter than I am?"

Lily frowns, her heart twisting in her chest at Sirius' urgency. She licks her lips. "Yes, though I wouldn't call his haircut _stupid_. How did you know this?"

"Yes, Sirius, how did you know this?" Remus seconds curiously.

Sirius runs a hand through his hair, heaving a loud, trembling sigh. "That's my brother."

"Your brother." Lily blinks, feeling a mix of panic and hysteria bubble up her throat. "Your _brother_ — he's not _human_!"

Something pained flashes through Sirius' eyes — and he and Regulus share the same coloring, how has she never noticed before?

"I know," he says. "Why did you think I left?"

Lily chokes on air. "Oh, I don't know, maybe because you hated them and they didn't approve of your 'life choices' — which, might I remind you, is what you've always said? I thought the Blacks were just like, old money and traditional, and they didn't like you being bi."

"Well, that too." Sirius winces. "But traditionally, the heir to the family fortune is also… well, not human, as you said. That's why I left."

"So Regulus…"

"Took my place? Yeah, I guess he did." Sirius sighs tiredly.

"What happened, anyway?" Remus interrupts.

"I — We were attacked," Lily repeats. "I fought the witch off. He was on his knees, and I was about to kill him, but Regulus… Regulus got there first. And then I left."

The story is oddly simple, told this way, but there is no way for Lily to make them understand the horror she'd felt upon realizing what Regulus was, that awful feeling of doubt pervading everything, and perhaps worst of all, the worry that she'd made the biggest mistake of her life in leaving.

"So… you just left? And he didn't try to follow you?"

Lily shakes her head, throat tight. "And I haven't heard from him since." She also hasn't heard anything about a body being found where the aggression took place, but Sirius waves away her concerns by saying that Regulus would have had it taken care of.

Lily's not sure how she feels about that.

"And you never knew he was —" Remus continues.

"A vampire," Sirius interjects. "Or well, half — don't ask."

Lily shakes her head, frustrated. "Of course, I didn't! Do you really think I would have fallen in — gone out with him if I'd known?"

"And he never tried to, err…"

"Drink my blood? No, James, I think I would have noticed that." Lily snorts, but her amusement dies quickly. She sighs. "I just… I didn't see it coming," she says, hating how small her voice sounds.

But then what Sirius' just said catches up to her, and she freezes. "Wait, did you say _half_?"

Sirius shrugs. "Yeah. It's complicated." He sighs. "Look, my parents are both blood-sucking leeches, but even they wouldn't fully turn my brother before he has kids. So they've probably started the process, but he's still _mostly_ human. That's how it works in our family."

"Man, your family is fucked up." James whistles.

Sirius snorts. "You're telling me."

"But wait, what does him being _half_ -vampire mean?"

Once again, Sirius shrugs. Lily wishes she could strangle him for being so vague.

"I don't really know," he says. "It's different for everyone, from I what gathered before I, you know, left. But he's like a vampire in most ways, just not _all the way_. He wouldn't be as strong or as fast, for one. Oh, and he's still alive. Obviously."

"Obviously," James echoes dubiously, but Lily barely hears him.

All she can think about is that Regulus' skin had been warm every time she had touched it. She had heard his heartbeat, felt him breathe — once, she had even seen him bleed.

He's still alive. Enhanced in some way, perhaps — half-vampire according to Sirius — but still human underneath that. There has never been any trace of bloodlust or rage in him, she had never seen violence in him until he had killed that witch, but even then, it hadn't been anything more than she had been willing to do.

She lost sight of that, somehow.

"I need to go," she hears herself say. "I need to —" _see him, and talk_.

She doesn't know if they try to stop her.

She doesn't care.

.

Even though she's never met his family — well, not officially — Lily knows where Regulus lives. She's been there countless times before, and she had never doubted her welcome.

Now, however, it feels uncomfortable to enter the building and knock on his door.

Nothing happens, and for a moment, she thinks that perhaps she made a mistake. Perhaps Regulus isn't even here. But finally, she hears footsteps, and then a click, before the door finally opens.

"Lily," Regulus says, his eyes widening in surprise. For once in his life, words seem to be failing him, and despite herself, Lily smiles.

"Regulus," she answers, but then the words seem to die on her tongue.

Regulus snorts, though it's not unkind. "You know, I've waited this long for you, and I thought I could wait forever. And yet suddenly now that you're here, I'm impatient. What is it, Lily?"

There are a hundred things she could say, even more, perhaps, that she _should_ say, and yet all that falls from her tongue is, "I miss you."

But Regulus' eyes soften, and she knows in her heart that it is right. "I miss you too." He seems to hesitate before pulling the door open wide. "Will you come in?"

He doesn't mean just in his apartment. The realization steals her breath. He means, _I know what you are and you know what I am._ It's an invitation and an excuse to refuse all wrapped in one, and if she needed anything to reaffirm the thought that Regulus hasn't changed, that her knowing _what he is_ doesn't change a thing, it would be that.

So Lily raises her head and smiles as she says, "Yes."


End file.
